A visiting team of six teachers and educators from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) will be coming to Carlmont from Feb. 26 to the 29 to evaluate Carlmont’s academic standards.
Every six years, WASC randomly selects teachers from other WASC schools to go and review other schools.
During the evaluation students can expect to see visitors in classes and walking around at lunch and students may be pulled aside during class to be asked about their experiences at Carlmont and what they are learning that day in class.
The goal of the evaluation is to obtain a WASC accreditation, which serves a dual purpose as a self-evaluation for the school and a tool colleges use to assess enrolling students.
WASC gives accreditations to schools which provide a quality education to its students; things such as class size, grade point averages, AP enrollment and student behavior are some of the factors considered for an accreditation.
“The school is incentivized for good performance, and ensures the legitimacy of your diploma,” commented history teacher and WASC co-chairperson Kris Weisman.
Fellow WASC co-chair Linda Garvey added, “It’s important that schools go through a self-study process and students are assured of a quality education [through WASC].”
A WASC survey of about 700 students, taken last April, shows that the majority of students at Carlmont overall feel that their classes are challenging and teach important critical skills.
For example, the survey shows that 52 percent of students feel challenged by their classes, and that 71 percent of students feel comfortable getting help from their teachers.
However, results from a another report by WASC, which looked at student grades and classroom curricula, indicate that while Carlmont students are doing better overall, a significant achievement gap remains between “subgroups” of students. The report also showed that 20 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches.
In addition, the report also showed the need for an increased emphasis on writing and communication skills.
“Carlmont can improve on closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students,” commented Weisman, “we’ve done a good job increasing the performance of all students, but there is still a gap.”
In other words, while all students are doing better overall, there is a gap between higher-level students and lower-level students.
“We’ve been focusing on increasing AP enrollment, and introducing more writing into classroom curricula,” stated Weisman, “it’s easy to get caught up focusing on advanced students – but we have to make sure other students are ready [for life after graduation].”
History teacher Garvey was one of the teachers selected at Carlmont to go and evaluate other schools.
“I was selected because I did the WASC 2009 midterm and was the site council chair for Carlmont at the time.”
The last full WASC evaluation of Carlmont was during the 2005-6 school year WASC identified the need for more “intense intervention” for low-performing freshmen, more support classes for struggling students, and an expanded career-prep program.
The WASC team that visited in 2009 for a mid-term review made no additional recommendations for Carlmont, noting that issues addressed in the 2006 report were mostly resolved due in part to the implementation of Smaller Algebra classes, expansion of the NovaNet credit recovering program and the opening of the new Biotechnology building.
Carlmont has been a part of WASC since WASC’s creation in 1968. WASC was created to promote the development of education in the west, and it covers California, Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, Micronesia, and eastern Asia. WASC is run by the College Board, the same group responsible for AP classes and the SAT. WASC is also recognized by CHEA (the Council for Higher Education) and the United States Department of Education, in addition to accrediting colleges and universities, such as the University of California at Davis and Stanford.
The full report for WASC’s 2012 review can be seen on Carlmont’s website, underneath the “about us” section labeled “WASC 2012.”

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